Jacie has been home for 2 1/2 years. She was adopted from the Special Needs Chinese Adoption Program at the age of 8 years old. She is learning and growing in her forever family~

Saturday, March 12, 2011

The Laughter Remains

I absolutely love quiet, Saturday mornings. Well, I would if I had any. Things are rarely quiet here. When I get up in the morning, I tiptoe around in hopes of not awakening anyone. That is a nice thought. My favorite little ninja princess' eyes pop open the minute she hears anything and down the stairs she comes running. Literally. The first couple times that I heard her thundering down the stairs, I thought that she would land in a crumpled heap at the bottom. Nope. She seems to have mastered the art of the stairs...

So while I was trying to read, she was standing guard over me and constantly trying to engage me in her soldier play. I am trying to teach her to occupy herself. At this point, she is not getting any closer to learning that. At times that makes me feel quite caged in. The only thing she really wants to do is to watch TV, all of the time. I know that they sat her in front of the television often. I am also working with her on breaking that hold. That makes me tired just thinking about it.

The day to day living does not seem to be leveling off. The children are always bickering at each other. I did not realize that things would escalate to this degree. They pick on Jacie a lot and she gives it right back. Quite often, she is 'out of context' which causes the boys to start in again. Really, this is an emotional game that is played every minute of every day. It is exhausting.

Though it doesn't sound like it, we do have good times. The laughter remains...

I have always enjoyed laughter and seen in it the health of relationships. With all of the changes in the last eight months, I was afraid that we would lose the laughter. We didn't. It is different but here. Some days I cling to that laughter as hope that relationships are developing and growing.

Jacie is still struggling with a little bit of sickness. We are taking it easy this weekend in hopes of wiping that out. She has a pre-op on Monday. I would really like it if she wasn't running a temperature. I will check in after her appointment. Many people have asked how long the surgery will be. I will let you know.

Those of you who don't know, Jacie will have surgery next Friday, March 18th. The doctors will be breaking her hip and removing part of the bone. They will then reset the hip using plates and bolts. They will also be breaking her left leg. They will remove some bone, reset the leg and casting her for eight weeks. She continues to fuss about the upcoming surgery. She says that she did watch the doctor cut her legs last time and it made her scream. I am wondering about localized medicine. I believe that she was awake. Yuck. She does not understand that medicine is different in the States, so I guess she'll just have to wait and see. She wants to swim when the surgery is over. I wish that I could put in some semblance of a pool for her this summer but I don't see it fitting into the plans. I think that it would offer great therapy for her.

She continues to delight us with her antics. She is funny and smart. It brings us great joy to look into her face (no matter how early she awakens.) She is definitely her daddy's buddy but is ma's girl. She wants me all of the time. She sniffs my arms while I am working on the computer until I feel like I could go crazy. Maybe I should try it; going crazy that is....

Pray for her as she gears up for surgery. She is nervous and I think that her stomach ache is the result. I am trying to think of ways to make the two months pass quickly for her. Her birthday celebration falls within that eight weeks, so I am working on ways to make that first American birthday special.

Thanks for coming along on this amazing journey.

~CP

The picture was taken in Guangzhou, China at the White Swan Hotel on the Island. It is tradition to take a photo of an adopted child on this red sofa in th lobby. She looks so little.